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Suffixes are powerful. Not only do they clue you into the meaning of the word, but they also let you know if the word you are encountering is a noun, verb, adjective and/or adverb.

So, for example, almost all words that end with –ize make a verb.

realize

recognize

sympathize

energize

materialize

They are all verbs.

Now, there are hundreds of suffixes that show up in English, but, lucky for you, I have selected 44, just 44 suffixes that you need to know in order to improve your vocabulary by thousands of words in just a fraction of the time.

Imagine, reading a book without looking in a dictionary every second!

By the end of this article, you will know what suffixes are, where they’re located in words and how you can use them to improve your reading comprehension and expand your vocabulary.

Sound good?

Oh, and if you want, you can download the Vocabulary Ninja suffix list. Learn these 44 suffixes and expand your vocabulary by thousands. You can get it right here for free.

This particular suffix, -able, usually implies that the given word is an adjective that means you can do or able to do something.

So, as you can see, suffixes help you understand the part of speech and meaning of the word through both the suffix (-able) and the root the suffix is connected to (fix).

Why Are Suffixes Important?

Knowledge of suffixes can expand your vocabulary and improve your reading comprehension. Not only do they help you understand the meaning of a word without looking in a dictionary, but they also give you a hint about a given word’s part of speech.

This is a simple example of how you can use suffixes to get the idea of what a word means without looking in a dictionary.

Wait.

There’s a problem.

Two Types of Suffixes

You might be asking yourself…

Aren’t suffixes the letters that go at the end of words when you want to change the verb tense?

You’re right, but those are not the kind of suffixes I’m talking about.

There are two different types of suffixes.

“Suffixes can be of two types: (1) inflectional suffixes such as -ed and -s that change the tense or number of a word without changing its part of speech, and (2) derivational suffixes such as -ity and -tion that change a word’s part of speech or shade of meaning.” from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon

So, there are two types of suffixes: inflectional suffixes and derivational suffixes.

Sexy, right?

Don’t worry about the fancy words. Just remember that inflectional suffixes change verb tenses. Inflectional suffixes are the ones you studied in your grammar book. The most common example is -ed, which goes at the end of a verb to put it in the past tense.

For example…

walk = walked

That’s an inflectional suffix because it changes the tense, not the meaning or the part of speech.

walk – a verb that explains the process of putting one foot in front of the other

walked – same meaning, just put in the past tense

Now, a derivational suffix…

Let’s use the same base word, walk.

walker – (n.) a person who walks, 2. (n.) a baby carriage

In this case, walker, the derivational suffix, changed the part of speech from a verb to a noun. The word walker is still connected to the base form, walk, but slightly altered in meaning.

Exciting, right?

I know derivational suffixes don’t sound exciting, but they are crucial if you want to reach your goal of English fluency.

You won’t find a chapter on derivational suffixes in your grammar textbook, but you will find that they will dramatically improve your reading comprehension and boost your vocabulary.

Believe it or not…

You actually already know many of these suffixes, you just don’t know how to use that knowledge and apply it when you study English.

Just take the derivational suffix -er and think about all of the other nouns you know that end with -er:

walkerstrollerdrivertalkermoverknockerteacherreader

The first thing you might notice is that all of these words are nouns. Also, in many instances, the suffix -er indicates that the word describes a person who performs the action of the root.

A reader reads.

A teacher teaches

A knocker knocks

So, if you know the 44 most important derivational suffixes, then you will be able to know a word’s part of speech, identify the root within the word, and guess the meaning.

Still with me?

I know this is hard at first.

Let’s look at some more examples…

If you’re tired of reading, you can check out our Youtube video on suffixes right here.

Suffixes in Action

I promise, if you devote the time and effort required to commit these few suffixes to memory, your vocabulary is going to increase by thousands.

How do you do it?

Let’s go back to the best suffix list and look at each one in more detail.

Let’s start with: –

–tion

conduction

Break it down into familiar parts you already know.

con – is a prefix which means togetherduc – is a root word which means to lead

And the suffix -tion implies that the word is a noun that describes an action or process.

From this information, you can guess:

conduction – a noun that has to do with the process of leading two or more things together

The dictionary definition of subjective is almost completely different than the meaning of the prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

Okay, so my guess was very different from the actual meaning, but that’s okay.

I included this example for a reason.

I want you to know that the Vocabulary Ninja Method doesn’t work all the time, but it works a lot of the time. Don’t be disappointed if your guess is not connected to the actual meaning. That’s okay. The most important thing is for you to think actively about what you’re reading. Being active in your learning will help you improve in almost every area of English.

And according to More Words, there are over 900 words that end with –ive and almost all of them are adjectives. Here’s a list of just 20:

Two more suffixes to go from our best suffix list. You probably recognize the next one:

-ance, -ence

disturbance

Again, this word contains a prefix, suffix, and root word.

dis– a prefix you may recognize which implies that the root is away from its meaning

rebellious – an adjective to describe a person or people who resist an established authority

Pretty close, right?

The best part?

The suffix –ous shows up in over 1200 words and many of them are adjectives describing the qualities of a noun. Here are 20:

Again, The Vocabulary Ninja Method doesn’t work perfectly 100% of the time, but it often gives you an idea of what a word means without looking in a dictionary.

Is your head about to explode?

Don’t worry, I had the same feeling when I first started learning about prefixes, suffixes, and root words. There are just so many of them that can be applied to thousands of words, so it’s hard to know where to focus.

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2 Comments

It’s. Incredible article …useful and interesting…… I am lucky that I found this method for learning and expand my English vocabulary.
Thank​you so much Sir!!!
Again that’s what I have been looking for long time.
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The Vocabulary Ninja Suffix List

44 Suffixes = 1000s of New Words

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